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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513342">let's steal the GAR | snapshots, notes, and prompt fills</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxDuane/pseuds/PaxDuane'>PaxDuane</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Leverage Fusion, Family as Team, Force-Sensitive Clones (Star Wars), Found Family, Gen, Good Parent Jango Fett, Jedi Commander Bacara, Jedi clones, Miscommunication, Non-binary character, Non-binary clones, Team as Family, characters and relationships will be tagged as stories are posted</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:02:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,743</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513342</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxDuane/pseuds/PaxDuane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhat of a Leverage Fusion AU.</p><p>Grifter, <em>hitter</em>, slicer, thief, mastermind. Jango Fett is the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, and if he uses his expertise to help the downtrodden in a galaxy rife with lawful corruption it's up to him. </p><p>But when he realizes he's too deep in a con he's only running to stay alive, he finds he's the one who needs the help. Him and all of his clones. </p><p>He needs a little leverage, so he calls in the rest of the Fulcrum team.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CC-1010 | Fox &amp; CT-7567 | Rex, CC-1138 | Bacara &amp; CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody &amp; CT-7567 | Rex, CT-7567 | Rex &amp; CC-3636 | Wolffe, Jango Fett &amp; CT-7567 | Rex, Jango Fett &amp; Original Character(s), Mace Windu &amp; Original Character(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Anakin Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The_Newbie's Star Wars Fanfic</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. let's steal a history (Meet the Crew)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Fulcrum 1 - The Original Crew [Fulcrum Interplanetary]</p>
<hr/><p>Mastermind:</p><p>
  <span class="u">Mèpe of Naboo</span>
</p><p>Unknown species of shapeshifter, security consultant, assassin, former actor, philanthropist, former political aide to Senator Palpatine (see aliases).</p><p>Established Aliases -Tepth Re, assassin. Ettiè Nicottiere Vephiema, former Naboo politician. Mèpe of Naboo, security consultant and former actor. </p><p>A well connected actor, they met Jango Fett when he was hired to kill a patron of the theatre they were playing at. A few years later, they were brought together again when a member of one of the Banking Clans hired the original crew to take an important artifact he claimed rightfully belonged to him. It didn't, Fulcrum stole it back and returned it and managed to get him ostracized and forced to retire. </p><p>Can also run as a decent slicer and grifter.</p><p> </p><p>Grifter: </p><p>
  <span class="u">Triff Cry</span>
</p><p>Kiffar, con woman, make up artist, costumer, security consultant, thief.</p><p>Established Aliases - Triff Cry, wanted thief. Konati Price, fashion historian. Abath Ritt, tailor.</p><p>From an unnamed Kiffar clan, she always keeps her clan marks covered though Mèpe and Gimm are both aware of the clan and her place in it. She has a love for costuming and fashion, connections all over the galaxy, and the ability to look like almost anyone as good as Mèpe and other shapeshifters to a point. She met Mèpe when she took a job as a tailor for a local politician on Naboo to steal the man's antique suit collection and ended up temporarily on loan to the theatre they were playing. Like the rest of Fulcrum 1, she came aboard thanks to the Banking Clan member's job.</p><p>Can also run as a decent hitter.</p><p> </p><p>Hitter: </p><p>
  <span class="u">Jango Fett</span>
</p><p>Mandalorian, bounty hunter, community leader, bodyguard, security consultant.</p><p>Established Aliases - Jaster Mereel, bounty hunter. Pakla Lat, security consultant. Vercopa, head of the post-Galidraan True Mandalorian movement. </p><p>The best bounty hunter in the galaxy, with credits on the line to keep up a a veneer of heartless bastard. Sometimes this works too well. Along with Triff, Gimm, and Gall, he helped convince Mèpe to make Fulcrum a reality. He mainly handles the True Mandalorian politics through technology. He's very soft to kids and about kids. Hating the Jedi is more of a grift background, as Galidraan put him even further off of genocide. As the oldest next to Mèpe, he falls into a parental role with the younger members of Fulcrum. Like the rest of Fulcrum 1, he came aboard thanks to the Banking Clan member's job. He'd met Mèpe first, though, and had heard of the others professionally.</p><p>Can run as a decent slicer and a good grifter, before the clones. After the clones, he gets more into the Mastermind role. Especially because he's supposed to be dead.</p><p> </p><p>Slicer: </p><p>
  <span class="u">Gimm Evvers</span>
</p><p>Twi'lek, bounty hunter, slicer, digital security consultant, holonet legend, slave freer.</p><p>Established Aliases - Gimm Evvers, bounty hunter and slicer. FiftyFiresRunning, holonet gamer and commentator. </p><p>A prodigious slicer, she was sold into slavery as a child. She managed to buy her freedom with her slaver's own money then went on to start dismantling the economics of slavery on the Outer Rim, which she still does. Mèpe met her when she was a newly freed child and, sensing something special, hired her as a personal assistant. This was right after Mèpe began their security consultation. Jango and Mèpe both work to keep her out of the action, even now that she's in her early twenties. After Fulcrum's creation, she messes with the others when they're on different jobs by creating dumb legal drama. Like the rest of Fulcrum 1, she came aboard thanks to the Banking Clan member's job, though she also worked as Mèpe's assistant at the time. </p><p>Can run as a decent hitter if the others ever let her and a decent grifter the rest of the time.</p><p> </p><p>Thief:</p><p>
  <span class="u">Gall Puur</span>
</p><p>Tholothian, cat burglar, security consultant.</p><p>Established Aliases - Gall Puur, wanted thief. Veph Re, security consultant.</p><p>Gall doesn't talk about his past. None of Fulcrum make him All they know is he's only a little older than Gimm, didn't have a last name associated with him until Mèpe got involved, and could get into anything. Like the rest of the Fulcrum 1, he came aboard thanks to the Banking Clan member's job. He wasn't as worried about the artifact being stolen-stolen by them, because that was just the way it was in the galaxy, but he had become attached to the others. As Fulcrum continued on in a different capacity, he came to see what they do as not just fun but as justice. He wears very specific black clothing now as a call to Jango's Mandalorian culture. He and Jango occasionally talk about him becoming Mandalorian.</p><p>Can run as a decent slicer at the beginning of Fulcrum and a decent grifter as Fulcrum continued.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>Fulcrum 2 - ? (The Clones)</p>
<hr/><p>Squad 17:</p><p>Squad 17 trains under Alpha-17, technically, but all of them also get Independent Training with members of Fulcrum.</p><p>Alpha-0017 - <span class="u">Alpha</span>. Hitter, Mastermind. Trains under Jango primarily.</p><p>CC-2224 - <span class="u">Cody</span>. Hitter, Grifter, Mastermind. Trains under Jango primarily. </p><p>CC-1010 - <span class="u">Fox</span>. Slicer, Grifter. Trains under Gimm primarily. </p><p>CC-3636 - <span class="u">Wolffe</span>. Thief, Hitter. Trains under Gall primarily. </p><p>CC-6454 - <span class="u">Ponds</span>. Grifter, Thief. Trains under Triff primarily. </p><p>CC-5052 - <span class="u">Bly</span>. Thief, Grifter, Mastermind. Trains under Gall primarily.</p><p>CC-1004 - <span class="u">Gree</span>. Slicer, Hitter, Mastermind. Trains under Gimm primarily. </p><p> </p><p>Miscellaneous:</p><p>Clones directly trained by members of Fulcrum, usually because they'd be at risk for decommission or reeducation as traditional soldiers but displayed instincts that could be successfully developed. Fulcrum also has a tendency to smuggle out those who are at risk but don't have the instincts necessary. They also sneak out many who are put away to be decommissioned or reeducated. </p><p>Rex / CT-7567 - Mèpe's direct trainee. Mastermind, Grifter, Slicer. Blonde hair mutation, delayed growth mutation. </p><p>Blackout / CC-4564 - Gimm's direct trainee. Slicer, Grifter, Hitter. Blonde hair mutation, gray hair mutation. </p><p>Direct Trainee for Triff. Direct Trainee for Gall. Not sure who yet.</p><p> </p><p>Later/Other:</p><p>Ahsoka Tano joins up under Rex and Cody's recommendation, after the Temple bombing aftermath. She trains under Jango and Triff.</p><p>Boba Fett, when he gets olden, also trains under Jango and Triff. As the 7-12 year old during the war, he only gets what he needs to survive and what he needs to help in case he's around during a con. </p><p>Bacara, after an incident, is shuffled off Kamino and into the custody of Master Fay. He runs as a Jedit Knight / General during the war but also as transportation for Fulcrum. After the war, he goes into hiding with Jango and a few others and helps run Fulcrum Interplanetary. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>Friends</p>
<hr/><p>Hondo Ohnaka, of course, is a friend of Mèpe and Jango's. He's run cons with Fulcrum before, but usually they only bring him in if there's something besides what they're looking for so he can take it and some of the heat.</p><p>The Feral Jedi of the Outer Rim / DnD Jedi. Master Fay and Mèpe know each other for reasons no one thinks about. Jango has helped Knol and Nico separately run cons for their missions. Gimm and Gall are both fond of Jon Antilles. </p><p>Shmi Skywalker, a mechanic on Tattooine, is a friend of Triff's who helps smuggle clones to different places.</p><p>Master Mace Windu is an old friend of Mèpe's and who helps Fulcrum fake Jango's death and smuggle dying soldiers away from the GAR. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. "It wasn't your fault."</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Warning for discussion of past child abuse and past child death.</p><p>A bit of Mèpe's past.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://audreyimpossible.tumblr.com/post/155520796204/fanfic-prompt-list">Prompt list here.</a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jango leans against the doorjamb, watching Mèpe pack the box of baby clothes for the shelter.</p><p>The Naboo glances back at him, expression flat. “I left them, Jango. I’d say that was my fault.”</p><p>Jango steps closer, reaching out so Mèpe can haul themself up and into his shoulder. “Your parents hurt you. You thought your siblings would be safe because you were made to think you were what was wrong in the family. It is not your fault that you didn’t come back and visit.”</p><p>Mèpe slumps against him, shoving their face into his neck. “She’s dead and I could have done something to prevent it. Her <em>daughter</em> is dead and I could have done something.”</p><p>“If you had known,” Jango reminds them. “If you had known, you wouldn’t have let anything stop you.”</p><p>Their eyes fall shut, screwed up to keep the light around them from getting in.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. "We're running low on time here."</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rex runs comms for Cody's final exam for Thief Introduction with Fulcrum and thinks about the future.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://faithfulwhispers.tumblr.com/post/143302966236/send-me-a-number-and-a-paring-and-ill-write-a">Prompt list here.</a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rex hisses into the comm, sifting through the data that Fox sent as fast as he can. “Shut up and let me work, Cody.”</p><p>“Alright, alright. Figures…”</p><p>Rex finds the password sandwiched between three orders and a designation. It’s messy. Fox could do better drunk. “Okay, try 616494.”</p><p>A moment of free comm buzz, then: “Okay, I’m in.”</p><p>“In and out, vod,” Rex mutters, leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers. He’ll send the data back to Fox tomorrow. There’s something about it that bugs him. Of Squad 17, Fox is better with numbers <em>and</em> finding what they end up needing. That’s why he’s going to Coruscant and the Guard, though it’s dangerous.</p><p>Rex had been there for Prime and Mèpe’s argument, whether the CG commander should be their slicer or their hitter. He’s not sure what Cody will do instead.</p><p>“Heading back,” Cody says in the comm.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. "I lost the baby." (NOT infant death)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Note: Not infant death. I nearly went there but it was too angsty. </p><p>Instead, have!</p><p>Warnings: Mention of canonical treatment of clones. </p><p>Wolffe was supposed to be watching Rex. Instead, he's come to Fox. Fox loves their brothers, they do, but sometimes they're really dumb.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://audreyimpossible.tumblr.com/post/155520796204/fanfic-prompt-list">Prompt list here.</a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Fox scrubs their face with their hands. “You lost the baby.”</p><p>“Yes,” Wolffe says, face perfectly blank.</p><p>“You lost Mèpe’s prize CT.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Fox gave their brother a dirty look. Mèpe loves all of them, somehow, in Squad 17. But Rex is their baby. The traditional trainers have their favorites, the ones they train one on one. They pick based on what they see, of course. So did Mèpe. It just so happened that they chose a younger CT and a blonde at that.</p><p>Which made the fact that Wolffe lost him much more dangerous.</p><p>“Well,” Fox says lowly. “You better find him. You were supposed to be running his harness training as part of Gall’s testing.”</p><p>“Can’t you do your weird slicer magic?”</p><p>Fox glares. “I’ll run your cover, but no more than that.” They’ll also intervene if Rex finds trouble. They like Rex, yes, but they <em>worship</em> Mèpe.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. *naturally goes along with a white lie you told and cover up for you when people question it*</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dred Priest is his own damn warning.</p><p>Rex really should try out his skills when he has an alibi.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://secondhand-trash.tumblr.com/post/620721298344214528/prompt-list-of-things-that-says-i-love-you">Prompt list here.</a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I was getting it for Prime,” Rex lies, immediately cursing himself. Mèpe is his trainer, will go along with any grift he tries just to keep him going. Prime, though Rex has trained under him a few times, barely knows Rex exists.</p><p>Priest snarls at him. “Sure, kid. Jango sent on a little CT to get a new set of whites.” The armor case bends a little under the man’s grip.</p><p>“He wants to test the new run,” Rex says, lie smoother now. He might as well run with this. Hopefully by the time Priest asks Prime, he’ll be ensconced in the crew’s apartment. “He had <em>opinions</em> on the last one, what with the Alphas testing it.”</p><p>Priest snarls again, but lets loose of the case. “Fine. We’ll take it to him.” He slams the case shut and motions for Rex to go ahead.</p><p>Rex runs through the crew’s training schedules in his head. Gall and Wolffe are running two batches of the 8 mark CTs, the ones the growth group just under Rex, through evasive maneuvers. Triff is putting Cody and a bunch of other 3 mark CCs through etiquette drills. Mèpe has hold of some of the special ops CCs and CTs, but they’re running through the same lesson that Mèpe put Rex and Blackout through yesterday so Rex is free. Gimm and Fox are making Ponds catch up on slicing. The Alphas are doubling up with their newest squads of CCs, on their own, and Prime is on break for the next hour before he goes to get onto them for whatever mischief they drag the younger CCs through. If Prime is on break…</p><p>Rex leads Priest back to the apartments, considers grabbing the case and running for the crew’s apartment. Instead, he soldiers ahead and knocks on Prime’s door.</p><p>Prime opens it while on comm, eyebrows raised and expression sour at Priest.</p><p>“I got the new run of whites, sir, like you asked,” Rex says, solid in his delivery, when Prime pauses the comm call.</p><p>Prime nods, glares at Priest. “Good. Get it in here.”</p><p>Rex snatches the case from Priest and darts into the apartment, settling next onto the couch while Prime scares Priest off.</p><p>Prime’s laughing once he closes the door, though. He shakes his head and looks Rex in the eye. “Why the hells did you want to grab the new cast of whites?” he asks, amusement clear.</p><p>“Wanted to see if I could, sir,” he admits. You didn’t lie to Prime, unless it was one of the crew’s tests.</p><p>Prime clicks his tongue, drags Rex’s chin up to look at him. “We’ll make a thief out of you yet,” he promises, smiling.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. “You can’t just hug me and think everything’s okay.”</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Warnings: Bad Parent-Child communication in a non-traditional setting. Siblings lashing out at each other by using words they know will hurt. Overwhelmed character lashing out. Lots of miscommunication, really. </p>
<p>Alpha walks into something he shouldn't have, opens his mouth, and learns something he should have a long time ago. Technically, only the first two of these things are connected.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://katie-girl-2.tumblr.com/post/146902678083/drabble-challenge-1-150">Prompt list here.</a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alpha freezes in the doorway at the sharp words, considers backing right back out of the Fulcrum apartment to let Prime and Gall figure this out without an audience.</p>
<p>Prime has the thief wrapped up in a hug, face carefully slack and eyes shut while Gall fumes. “I know, ad’ika. And I don’t think everything’s okay—you know better than that.”</p>
<p>“You don’t trust me!”</p>
<p>Alpha watches carefully as Prime clenches his fist behind Gall’s head, pain flickering across his face before it disappears again. It hurts to watch, because it’s not true. Gall is Fulcrum; Gall is Prime’s eldest kid, practically; Gall is trusted to be here on Kamino to train Alpha and his vode, to help steal them.</p>
<p>“Banthashit,” he can’t help but say.</p>
<p>Prime’s eyebrows go up, eyes still shut and face still blank besides that. It’s him being unimpressed with Alpha butting in but he should have known better. He may not call anyone but Boba and Gall and Gimm his kids, but he’s Alpha’s buir still.</p>
<p>Gall yowls and pulls away, turning his fury on Alpha. “You don’t know anything,” he flings at Alpha.</p>
<p>Prime opens his eyes and looks sharply at Gall. “Gall.”</p>
<p>“You’re just an imperfect little soldier that couldn’t make it without accommodations.”</p>
<p>“Gall!” Prime snaps, scruffing the thief by the collar. “Go cool down. You do <em>not</em> talk to any of them like that.”</p>
<p>Gall swings again. “You like them better than you ever liked us! They’re your karking legacy, your children. They matter more than my life.”</p>
<p>“Their lives matter more than you getting to do whatever you want, yes,” Jango retorts. “You’d have been even more furious if I hadn’t brought you in on this. You’d never forgive me for not letting you help your siblings to freedom. I didn’t ask to be your buir, and I didn’t ask to be theirs either, but you’re all my children. And you do not speak to your siblings like that. Go cool down.”</p>
<p>Gall pauses, freezes in horror, then storms out of the living area.</p>
<p>Prime slumps, then motions Alpha over and pulls him into a Keldabe. “Don’t listen to him.”</p>
<p>Alpha passed Prime up during his final growth spurt, but he still crumples into a hug. He’d never gotten any of these, besides from kih’vode, before Fulcrum came. They’re still rare and so he’ll take what he can get. “I <em>am</em> imperfect, though. I couldn’t make you proud as a soldier.”</p>
<p>Prime makes a wounded noise and pulls Alpha closer. “If I had a choice, none of you would be soldiers, not really. And we will have that choice, soon. I promise. The fact that you’re here and I didn’t completely kark you up… That’s all I can ask for. And you’re with Fulcrum because we knew you could do it. Otherwise you’d only be training ARC troopers and commanders. Or, if you really couldn’t cut it in any part of this con, we’d have sent you somewhere safe.”</p>
<p>Alpha’s quiet for a minute. “You really meant that we’re your kids?”</p>
<p>“Of course, ad’ika.” Prime sounds baffled. “Just because I couldn’t save all of you like the ones we’ve smuggled, or I can’t keep you with me all the time like Boba, or I can’t raise some of you like you and the Alphas and Gall and Gimm… That doesn’t mean you’re not pieces of my soul. That, more than my blood and my DNA, makes you mine.”</p>
<p>It reminds Alpha of something he’s heard Prime and Mèpe say. “And you don’t like anyone owning what’s yours.”</p>
<p>“Right you are.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Gall does apologize after this.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. “Why are you doing this?”</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cody and Wolffe have some free time.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://hellsdemonictrinity.tumblr.com/post/160523410875/angstfluff-prompt-list">Prompt list here. </a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody and Wolffe stare, upside down, at the four in the training room they’ve found themselves in…or really above.</p><p>The question, all exasperation, came from Rex. The blonde has his face in his hands. Fox, next to him, is rubbing their temples with similar exasperation. Triff and Prime, meanwhile, just look amused.</p><p>“Free time?” Cody offers, trying not to jostle Wolffe too much. He’s the one more likely to fall on his face, since Wolffe is better in the vents, but it will be because he jostled Wolffe if it happens.</p><p>“If you have so much free time, you should come down here and join us,” Prime says, crossing his arms. He’s smirking, feels like growing things.</p><p>Wolffe perks up…down technically, and folds himself out of the vents to drop to the ground. Cody sighs and follows. Not every day he gets to train with Prime along with more brothers.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. “Put that back where it came from or so help me Manda--.”</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Warnings: Mentions of canonical treatment of clones. </p><p>Rex didn't have time to eat before independent study, so he brought a ration bar with him. Mèpe is offended by its presence.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>My own prompt.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rex side-eyes Mèpe, looking between them and the ration bar in his hand. “This?” he asks, voice small. He doesn’t want them to give him back up already, they’ve only been his trainer for two cycles. And if Mèpe gives him up, he’ll probably be decommissioned.</p><p>“Yeah, that,” they spit. “You aren’t eating ration bars around me. I’ve already trained Gimm out of that three times.”</p><p>“Didn’t stick?” Rex snarks before he can stop himself, then flinches back.</p><p>They raise an eyebrow, unimpressed, and take his arm.</p><p>“Uh, sir?” Rex asks, panic growing as they haul him to another apartment.</p><p>Prime opens, a cadet—no, Boba Fett is peaking just in the line of sight further behind him in the apartment.</p><p>“He was going to eat ration bars, Jango,” Mèpe says, words stilted with anger and…something else?</p><p>Prime chuckles, then says, “Bring him in. Boba and I are making lunch.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This round of drabbles really ended up centering on the work that Fulcrum didn't expect in this con. They didn't quite expect, in their unconscious, a bunch of kids who had never had adults that really cared about them. Sure they knew logically, but that's different. Even Jango, once he's snapped out of character as the hardass bounty hunter, can't comprehend how bad it is, at first. I need to write more on Gimm because she's probably the best equipped to figure it out. </p><p>So, in this one--Mèpe has no clue why Rex is really scared. They're more worried about him having a dependency on ration bars, some kind of eating disorder, those kind of things. Logical things for a teacher or parent in a traditional setting. ...Yes, Fulcrum ends up fixing Kamino's food. And Jango does end up having a talk with both all of the Fulcrum-adjacent clones and the clones they smuggle out that he does care for them and will always come if they need him.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. let's steal a jedi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Jedi Order would never have turned a former slave, Force sensitive or not, out on the galaxy alone. Thankfully, Mace Windu knew exactly who to call. And even with Skywalker a part of the Order now, it's good if he knows what could have been and what will still be there if he ever decides this isn't the right path.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mèpe crosses their legs on top of Mace’s desk. Their face, currently the blue features of a Chiss, is carefully blank, practiced mainly to mock the Jedi but has proven useful further on. “Jango’s on a job,” they say, nodding back at Triff, Gimm, and Gall.</p><p>Mace grimaces. “That doesn’t sound good.”</p><p>“He’s not happy about it. But we’re not here to talk about that.”</p><p>Mace nods and leans back in his chair, lacing his fingers together. “You freed Shmi Skywalker?”</p><p>“Former master wanted to escape the terrible amounts of debt and we offered him something quick and easy.” Behind them, Triff grins. “The Hutts won’t be happy with wear their treasure has gone off to, of course, but that’s not our problem right now.”</p><p>Mace rolls his eyes. Fulcrum is the best at what they do, but sometimes what they do veers a little too far past the line between justice and vengeance. “Anakin Skywalker has been taken as a Padawan to Knight Kenobi.”</p><p>Mèpe nods, like they expected this. Who knows, they might have. “You still think he’d have been better served with us.”</p><p>Mace shuts his eyes, nods a bit. “Hopefully we’re wrong. Hopefully he’ll get what he needs from the Order.”</p><p>“We should make it clear to him that if he ever wants to leave, he has a place,” Gimm says, bright and shining and furious with the world. She’s only 16, has spent the last eight years raised by a troupe of thieves because there was no one to take her once she Freed herself. None of them let her into the big, dangerous jobs still. That’s for when she’s an adult in the eyes of the larger Republic.</p><p>Mace opens his eyes again, meeting Gimm’s eyes in acknowledgement. “One. One of you can meet with him. I can’t interfere with Kenobi too much, I don’t want to send him off track as a Master. He’s so young.”</p><p>Mèpe can hear the mournfulness in that. “Twenty-five is a little old for a new knight. Only by two years, yes, but old for a Knight and young for a Master,” they agree.</p><p>“We failed him, in many little ways,” Mace says. “We fail all of our members in many little ways, but it hurts so much to see it up close in someone I could have helped. Jinn was my friend, Master Yoda is my friend. If it weren’t for them, I would have taken Kenobi as my Padawan.”</p><p>That makes Mèpe raise their eyebrows. They take their feet off the desk, leaning forward as their shape shifts to a red skinned Zabrak. “You would have?”</p><p>“Jinn made me swear to not interfere, because he knew.” Mace breathes out through his nose.</p><p>Mèpe taps a long, pointy, black nail on his desk. “Does Kenobi know?”</p><p>That shocks Mace a little. “He must.”</p><p>“He might not, though.” Again, Mèpe leans back. “You do not stop learning once you are knighted or become a master, Mace. Not even from other teachers. Make yourself available. That is payment, here.”</p><p>A quiet nod. “Fine. Now, who will go to Skywalker, and who will stay and discuss what you’ve found with me?”</p><p>Mèpe leans back over their chair, gesturing to Gimm. “You’ll be a good model for the boy.”</p><p>***</p><p>Gimm follows Master Windu’s old Padawan, Master Billaba, after Mace summons her and asks her to take Gimm to see Skywalker and Kenobi.</p><p>The two are in a little apartment with the door propped open, two-bedroom, joint living area and kitchenette, one ‘fresher probably. The kitchenette is already being used a lot, judging by the clutter of tea tins, barely cleaned up flour, still wet sink, and bin of droid parts next to a cabinet.</p><p>“Knight Kenobi,” Billaba says, smiling kindly.</p><p>Kenobi jumps up, putting himself between his Padawan and the visitors. “Master Billaba!”</p><p>Billaba bows slightly, shooting a smile at the small Skywalker boy who is peaking out from behind Kenobi.</p><p>“Master Windu asked that I bring a friend of his by to speak to Padawan Skywalker,” Billaba continues.</p><p>Attention switches to Gimm, already fallen into the firm posture of someone who knows what she’s doing. She knocks her chin with one knuckle, making eye contact with Skywalker. A gesture used by slaves and freed to say hello.</p><p>The boy lights up.</p><p>“I’m Gimm Evvers,” she introduces. “My parents are friends of Master Windu.”</p><p>Billaba steps back and around Gimm. “You can find your way back?”</p><p>Gimm shoots her a lazy smile. “I can.”</p><p>Billaba nods and says a brief trio of goodbyes, off to prepare for a class.</p><p>“Would you like some tea?” Kenobi asks her, ushering her in.</p><p>Tea, judging by the kitchen and Kenobi’s query, will be an opening to bond with him, so she says, “That would be delightful.” She likes caff better, shig if Jango is around. Tea isn’t bad, per say, she’s just not a fan.</p><p>She settles on the couch across from Skywalker, who returns her greeting. Still, they’re quiet until Kenobi returns. After a few sips of the tea, a compliment to Kenobi, she begins. “Master Windu contacted my family after Padawan Skywalker was initially rejected by the Order, asking if we’d be willing to teach him.”</p><p>Kenobi’s mouth falls open. “I’m sorry?”</p><p>“We are not here to take your Padawan,” she assures Kenobi. “We are here to follow up on a few things. We just felt it would be good to introduce ourselves. As I’m also a Force sensitive who was formerly a slave, it was felt I’d be the best option. You see, my adoptive parents and my aunt trained me in the Force. I was eight when I came to them, ten when I was fully adopted.”</p><p>“Not your mom?” Skywalker asks.</p><p>It doesn’t surprise her that he doesn’t ask about both biological parents. He only has one, after all. “No, they were both lost to me before I can remember. That’s why I needed to have my adopted parents. However, that is one of the things we came to follow up on. On our way to take custody of Skywalker before he became a Padawan, we stopped on Tatooine. My b—my father had to go off for a job from there, but not before we were able to free a slave.” She smiles at Skywalker.</p><p>“You freed my mom!” he cheers. “For me?”</p><p>“Of course! We have no love for slavers, in my family… All of us have been there, though I was enslaved longest. Actually Gall, my brother may not have been enslaved. But we’re not sure what happened to him as a child… But, we stopped to free her. It was there that Master Windu contacted us about your entry into the Order. Shmi decided to stay on Tatooine, and we set her up with her own mechanics business.”</p><p>Skywalker beems.</p><p>“We felt, if you did not have the family of the Order and only had us, it was imperative for your mother to be a figure in your life. As part of the Order, she’ll have a much smaller role in your life, of course. Your Master is the one taking care of you, and you have a whole new family. But that doesn’t mean you’ve left your old one, too,” she tells him. “And if, by some stray bit of fate, you and your Master decide you no longer want to be a part of the Order, we will happily take you in either as one of our own or as our friend Shmi’s son.”</p><p>“What…” Kenobi pauses. “What is it you do, Miss Evvers?”</p><p>Gimm pulls back from how she’s been leaning in to talk to Skywalker. She smiles at Kenobi. “We provide leverage. Mediators, retrieval specialists, security consultants… My father is a bounty hunter, most of the time. My mother is a former politician who now runs the business. My brother and I both handle security consultations with her.”</p><p>Kenobi nods slowly, still unsure of what exactly they do.</p><p>“Master Windu has our commlinks,” she tells him, then finishes her tea. “Thank you so much for your hospitality and time, Knight Kenobi, Padawan Skywalker.”</p><p>“Thank you for coming all this way,” Kenobi agrees, rising with her to shake her hand. “And for letting us know that Lady Skywalker has been freed.”</p><p>Gimm shoots Skywalker a grin as she says her goodbyes. She meets Mèpe at the side entrance they all came in through.</p><p>“Sitrep?” the shapeshifter asks as they leave the Temple and head to where they’ve left the ship.</p><p>“Took it well enough. We should send them a gift later on. Fancy tea for Kenobi. Droid parts Skywalker.”</p><p>“He built Shmi’s C-3PO. Good call. You think they’ll be okay.”</p><p>“If they let the Order support them,” Gimm assures Mèpe. “We all need family.”</p><p>Mèpe turns back and smiles at her, gentler than they give anyone outside the crew except small children. “We do.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This came about partially because I was thinking about Mace and Mèpe's friendship. Mace seeing a scared, formerly enslaved Force sensitive and having to turn him away from the Order... I also put some thought on why Mace would have agreed to that--how they didn't think the Order would be right for Anakin. So this came about. In an AU of this AU, I think they would have continued on with Shmi to take him, if he hadn't been taken as Obi-Wan's padawan. Jango probably wouldn't have done the final job towards the clone project. Anakin would have been a kickass Fulcrum auxiliary. I don't think he'd have been a main part of the crew, though. </p><p>I'm not totally happy with how I characterized Obi-Wan in this. It's close to how I wanted it, but I feel like there should have been more active conversation between him and Gimm and Anakin... Might rewrite the second part of this. If I do, I'll take it off of this chapter and put the whole part of another that's just "let's steal a jedi (part two)". As is, though, Anakin isn't the Jedi being stolen ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. let's steal a prince</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jango's not entirely sure how his family missed an entire chunk of his heritage, but he doesn't have time to think about that right now.</p>
<p>Part-Chalactan!Jango</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Takes place about six years before the Invasion of Naboo. Gimm is 12, Gall is 15. Fulcrum has been active three years. This is the first time I've mentioned that Mèpe and Jango are married, too... It's mostly because of politics referenced in this, though they are badass ace co-parents.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Whoa, what are we running?” Triff asks as she comes swanning into the office. “Lost Prince? Grieving Unknown Brother?”</p>
<p>Jango glares at her, letting Mèpe adjust the collar of his kurta.</p>
<p>“No, seriously, you’re dressed like a Chalactan Adept, Jan’I,” she adds, looking him up and down. “What’s going on? Where did you get the Marks of Illumination?”</p>
<p>“My cousins have asked me to accompany them to the Festival of Song this year,” Jango explains dryly. “I earned these Marks, thank you very much.”</p>
<p>Triff gapes.</p>
<p>“Just because he is Mandalorian doesn’t mean he can’t have citizenship elsewhere as well,” Mèpe reminds her, unwinding a saree made of diaphanous silk that matches Jango’s kurta. And, of course, his usual colors. They begin to artfully wrap it around Jango, layering it with the kurta to give the effect of a Chalactan drogyn priest’s uniform. “You’ve met three of his cousins, Triff.”</p>
<p>“I have?”</p>
<p>“Master Ti, Knight Billaba—though I’ve heard she’ll be a Master soon—and her sister Knight Labooda.”</p>
<p>Triff boggles. “I’m sorry? How.”</p>
<p>“The usual way,” Jango retorts, waggling his eyebrows. When she scowls, he grins. “We share ancestors, along with our cousin the Raja. Normally they don’t bother to pull me along, but there have been more talks about Galidraan lately and they want to make sure I’m not about to jump off the deep end.”</p>
<p>“You’re related to the King of Chalacta?”</p>
<p>“Technically,” Jango says, grimacing, “I’m next in line. I put my place on hold after becoming Mand’alor, to try and keep Chalacta from being implicated in the Clan War, but after Galidraan I decided ‘kark it’ and removed the hold.”</p>
<p>“You’re married to a Prince, Mèpe,” Triff chortles.</p>
<p>The two shoot her unimpressed looks.</p>
<p>“The family is not as numerous as it once was,” Jango adds. “Depa and Sar would be next in line if they hadn’t been raised without their parents. Even as Jedi, they would have been considered, but their parents weren’t there to be a guiding hand on the politics. So they’re out. Any children or padawans they adopt will have the option, though. Shaak is further back in line because the Ti branch of the House is less connected. Adoption and intermarriage further back in history. So she’s behind me. And Rama hasn’t had any children.”</p>
<p>“So you have politics on multiple sides,” Triff says, grimacing.</p>
<p>Jango smirks. “I married the right person for it.”</p>
<p>“So are Gimm and Gall in line?”</p>
<p>Mèpe answers this one, “No, though Gimm was close, but if they have children they’ll have the option. If Jango and I manage to raise a young child together, if we for some reason have a baby… They will be in line.”</p>
<p>“Complicated.”</p>
<p>“I’ve had to learn well,” Mèpe replies, a small smile on their lips. “Naboo elects their monarchs, though usually from noble families.”</p>
<p>“You’re a noble?”</p>
<p>“I was.” Mèpe turns their smile on Jango. “Now, I guess I’m a Rai’s spouse.”</p>
<p>Jango leans down to kiss them, just in time for Gimm and Gall to come in and groan.</p>
<p>“Gross,” Gimm calls, throwing herself onto the couch. “Do we get to dress up?”</p>
<p>“Not unless you want to help me and my cousins open the festival,” Jango says, shooting the two semi-adopted children a look while Mèpe finishes wrapping the saree.</p>
<p>Gimm grimaces, shoving herself into Gall. “No thanks. I’ll livestream it.”</p>
<p>“Too open,” Gall adds. “There aren’t any good vents in the Temple.”</p>
<p>Jango rolls his eyes. “Alright then. Well, I need to get going soon. We’re dropping out of hyperspace in ten minutes then landing within an hour. You all promise not to cause too much trouble? At least for the people we like. Mèpe will send the list to your comms.”</p>
<p>“Got it,” Gimm calls, opening up her comm. “Oya, buir.”</p>
<p>“Oya.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you're intrigued by this mess, please check out my series <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839124">Deception in Kyber</a>! As of posting this, Chapter 1 of the first "book" is up and Chapter 2 goes up on Saturday. It's a historical (for GFFA) fic about the ancestors of the Fett family, the Ti clan, and the extant (as of Prequels era) Billaba dynasty as a whole. It's kind of a political spy thriller with lots of Force based romance.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. let's steal a storm (Jedi!Bacara)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Fulcrum is on Kamino to help the clones. One just needs a little more help than they can give at the moment. So, Rex gets his first assignment under Mèpe and a lasting friendship no matter how much of the galaxy is in between them.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“He needs a teacher,” Mèpe says, pointing out Cort Davin’s favorite CC.</p><p>Jango rakes his eyes over to 1138, frowning. “Davin’s a bastard, but…”</p><p>“Not that kind of teacher,” they correct. “One we’d be able to give him if we weren’t in the middle of this.”</p><p>They don’t mean how they’re both up in observation, watching the trainers who have their favorites working through Independent Study. Normally, Jango would go toss Alphas at each other at this time, but Mèpe is going to be one of these trainers, sooner or later, and needs to know the lay of the land before they start letting CT-7567 loose among them.</p><p>No, Mèpe means they’re in the middle of a long con, trying to save these children’s lives. They don’t have time to train any of these kids to the same point they are in mastering their force abilities. Most of the clones can get away with the bits and pieces being passed down from the Alphas.</p><p>Jango’s eyes fall shut. “I can’t sense him at all. Is he masking?”</p><p>Mèpe is smiling when he opens his eyes again. “You can’t sense him because you’re trying to see something different. But you look out there at him and you see the very things that have been echoing around you for seven years.”</p><p>Jango slowly turns to look out the window, at Kamino’s eternally raging storm. “Oh,” he says quietly. Then, leaning back against the observation window he spreads himself out again, looks again. There it is, he realizes. His echo who echoes the storm. “You’re right,” he says, sighing. “He needs a teacher. It’s not that he’s so much more powerful than the others…”</p><p>“It’s that he’s wild.” Mèpe, the way they say it, already has a plan. “I’m sure she’ll be by soon. Now we just need to get him away from Davin.”</p><p>“Get the Seventeens?” he suggests.</p><p>They smirk back. “Actually, I think I have the perfect person for the job.”</p><p>***</p><p>CT-7567 is still unsure of his place in the family. Wolffe says it’s because he doesn’t have a name yet, but Jango’s doesn’t think that’s it. ’67 reminds him too much of how he was when he’d first been swept up into Jaster Mereel and the Haat Mando’ade’s wake.</p><p>Still, it couldn’t hurt. It’s rude, he usually thinks, Naming the clones like this. Sure, the names he knows in his head usually end up being the ones the clones end up going by, but it's still... He gave up the right to name them the moment he signed the contract.</p><p>“Rex,” he says at ’67, sharp but not snappish, to make the boy jerk his head over. He raises his eyebrows at the boy, nodding. “Mèpe and I have your first big assignment for Independent Study. You coming?”</p><p>The little blonde scrambles over to him, leaving the painfully empty room. A whole squad down to one just because the Kaminiise found too much wrong. Jango’s so close to just dropping the younger clone and his things in with the Seventeens, or straight up in the Fulcrum apartment.</p><p>As Rex catches his stride, Jango reaches out and buries his fingers in blonde curls, gently steering the clone to said apartment. They’re going to use Mèpe’s room, already mostly empty, as the briefing room for this one. Bigger things require the main living space. But this is just Jango, Rex, and Mèpe.</p><p>Mèpe has the holo projector up and a datapad with color-accurate files. “Everything good?” they ask, pulling Rex in for a side hug before turning him over to the unused bed.</p><p>The boy nods, then looks over at Jango and frowns. Back up to Mèpe. “My name is Rex.”</p><p>Mèpe breaks out into a dazzling grin. “Jango use his weird magic on you?”</p><p>“Is that what it is?”</p><p>Jango snorts. “Just time being strange for me, ad’ika. Now, Mèpe, you’re point on this one.”</p><p>They smirk and nod, handing the datapad to Rex. “Alright, this is CC-1138. Care to hazard a name, cyare?”</p><p>Jango shakes his head. “For when Fay comes, if he’s still not sure.”</p><p>“Alright. Rex, this is CC-1138. He trains under Cort Davin. Mark 3, the batch above the Seventeens, near top of his mark. Only mutation is his eyes, though Jango has a theory on that he hasn’t shared.”</p><p>Jango smirks. “He’s got the storm in him, hasn’t let it out yet. Eyes are windows.”</p><p>Mèpe takes a deep breath, mood darkening. “That would make sense. So, he has gray eyes. He’s the equivalent of 14-year-old human. He’s the wall the storm breaks on, but if he doesn’t get taught how to work with that it’ll either drown him or make him break. We can’t let either happen. Jango and I’s old teacher is in route to take him. But we need to get him away from Davin first.”</p><p>Rex flicks through the datapad, looking back and forth between it and the set of floor plans Mèpe has on the projector. “Morning class. CC’s still get called in by Prime enough, it’s an easy excuse. I send him right on…”</p><p>“You’re supposed to be in class then, and if you do it with witnesses like that Davin knows right where he is,” Jango interjects, watching as Rex’s face falls only to be replaced by more determination.</p><p>“Independent Study. You need to see Davin,” Rex offers. “Davin goes, Mèpe or Gimm get a Kaminii to get him. Say it’s…say it’s decommissioning. For his eyes, and not keeping up, or not keeping up <em>right</em>…” Rex is making himself sick, talking like that.</p><p>Jango reaches over and pulls the boy over to him, wrapping him up in a hug. “But instead, you and Mèpe get him to the Fulcrum apartment. He stays there, or with me and Boba, until Master Fay comes.”</p><p>That gets Rex’s attention. “A Jedi? Is Bacara going to be a Jedi?”</p><p>Mèpe smiles. “Maybe. So, what do you think Jango. Break Davin by saying his training was the last mistake 1138 could make?”</p><p>Jango’s eyes fall shut. It’s painful, to talk like this, but it’ll work. “Let’s run it.” He presses a kiss to Rex’s affection-confused forehead. “Good job, Rex. You think you can run it on your own or do you need a Seventeen?”</p><p>“I…I can do it, sir,” Rex says, determined.</p><p>***</p><p>Mèpe hadn’t planned on taking Rex in here so soon, and they’re scared at first to leave him, their comm in his hand, to “deal with something.”</p><p>So Rex gets to answer Jango’s comm. “7567, where’s your trainer?”</p><p>“Kaminoans, sir,” he says, echoing the carefully blank face both Jango and Mèpe have mastered. “Do you need me to get them?”</p><p>Jango snarls. “You’re in the I.S. training area?”</p><p>“Yessir.” He’s getting looks, too. From trainers and vode alike.</p><p>“I need Cort Davin to come find me. We need to have a talk.”</p><p>Swearing breaks out across the room, a broad man as dark as any of the clones with gray hair stalking across the room. “What do you want, Fett. We’re in the middle of training.”</p><p>“In person kind of chat, Dav’ka,” Jango coos, all false sweetness and barely hidden teeth.</p><p>Davin can tell, it seems. “Your place?”</p><p>“Main office.”</p><p>“On my way, ‘alor,” he snaps, glaring at Rex as the comm shuts off. “You can tell your karking trainer to get ready for reality.”</p><p>Rex doesn’t act afraid, because he knows what Davin’s about to get dropped on his shoulders. He almost feels bad. “I think,” he says, voice soft and taking a dreamy tone, “That you might need to take your own advice.”</p><p>Davin pauses, eyes wide as he looks at Rex. “Be careful, ad’ka. With your hair, the Kaminiise will take that kind of talk as a reason to put you on the other end of a needle, no matter your trainer.”</p><p>He’s scared, Rex realizes. Now he does feel bad for him, but… Not bad enough to risk a vod. “Yessir.”</p><p>Davin stalks out, leaving Rex to bolt over to 1138. The older trooper, on top of being a CC, is already a head taller than Rex. Part of that is some developmental delay in Rex’s growth that makes him have to work twice as hard to make up and keep on track. 1138 is also filling out to be as much of a wall of a man as Alpha.</p><p>1138 seems to be taking at least a moment of Davin being gone to hydrate. Rex already likes him better than the Seventeens, though he’s just about to lose him. Most of them forget to hydrate unless he’s tossing a bottle of water at their heads.</p><p>“Need something, tat’ka?” 1138 asks, accent different than most of the other vod.</p><p>“We need to go,” Rex says, quiet and careful and not looking at anyone around them but knowing exactly where everyone is, what they’re doing, where they’re looking. It’s not the Force, though it does give Rex a leg up. No, Rex just learned quickly what he needed to know to survive. “Before the Kaminiise come for you.”</p><p>1138’s eyes—storm gray but paler than outside—go wide. “What?”</p><p>“That’s where Mèpe went, to delay them,” he explains, reaching out for 1138. “I think that’s why Prime called—he’s got to tell Davin.”</p><p>1138 stands up, cautious, but follows when Rex leads him out. “So, where am I going?” he asks, bemused, as Rex goes for the apartments the trainers live in.</p><p>“Some of the trainers have contacts,” Rex says, digging his key out of a pocket Mèpe taught him to sew into his uniform, hidden but usable. “You’re not the first vod they’ve gotten out.” He pushes open the door, almost expecting the other Fulcrum members. It's empty, though. “Come on.”</p><p>He leads 1138 over to Mèpe’s room. Sure, the rest of Fulcrum, probably the Seventeens too, will know about him. But he deserves to have a space to himself. They’re just in when they here thundering steps all the way in the apartment bloc hall.</p><p>Five minutes later, Prime knocks on the door, eyebrows raised. Rex wonders if he does it on purpose, because it makes him look less like the boogeyman some of the older clones say he is. “Everything okay getting here?” he asks, looking to Rex.</p><p>“Yeah,” Rex says, hopping up from the bed where he was sitting next to 1138. “Can I help cook?” He wants out of 1138’s space, because it feels like his heart might burst if he stays much longer.</p><p>Prime’s fingers catch in his hair, curls growing longer than he used to let them since Mèpe thinks it will be an asset. “Sure, ad’ika.” He looks over Rex, to 1138. “You’ll need to stay in this apartment. Not this room, if you don’t want to. But the apartment. When we hear from the one who’s going to take you, we’ll get you out of here. For now, though, you’re safe here. And everyone who has a key in here is safe.”</p><p>1138 stares, jaw slack, at them. “What…” He cuts himself off.</p><p>Prime smiles, soft and guilty. “We’re going to get you out of here, ad’ka.”</p><p>“What about my brothers?” There’s worry in that question. “I need to be able to help them.”</p><p>“With who you’re going with, you’ll be able to help them even better,” Prime promises.</p><p>***</p><p>Mèpe gets the comm message, Prime hooks up a job off planet so he can take Bacara (as 1138 admitted he’s named himself after being introduced to the Seventeens with their names and Rex’s official introduction and Prime and the rest of Fulcrum’s endless patience and reassurance) to meet the Jedi.</p><p>Rex volunteers to help, with packing up Slave I, with sneaking Bacara out. Prime indulges him.</p><p>***</p><p>“Knight Vephiema said he’d meet us here,” General Kenobi says, looking around the landing area.</p><p>Rex and Cody can’t help the intrinsic straightening of their spines, minds on red alert. Vephiema is the name Mèpe used when they were a Naboo politician. There’s only one person that Knight Vephiema could be.</p><p>The metal at the side of the landing pad groans, then someone flips over it, landing on his knees before standing smoothly. Bacara is older — the same age as Cody, technically — and has filled out, grown as tall as Alpha. His hair is star-lightened, with streaks of aqua green in the curls, and he wears a mask based on Naboo make-up — further connection to Lady Vephiema.</p><p>He glides forward, confident in a mix of both of Rex’s buire that must come from their teacher, his Master. He flicks two fingers out from his forehead in a field salute.</p><p>Rex is already halfway to him, then swept up in a hug and a laugh that shakes like Kamino’s thunder. He’ll get shit from Buir and Mèpe for possibly breaking Bacara’s cover but he’s so glad. He hasn’t seen the older clone since nearly a year before the war started, when they were on the same planet. Fulcrum 2 was running a con, Bacara and Master Fay were heading to Coruscant for Bacara’s knighting.</p><p>Something about Master Fay’s use of the Force in training Bacara aged him ahead of them all, even with Prime using an injection to halt the accelerated aging early before Bacara left Kamino.</p><p>“Captain,” Bacara says, voice gravelly and warm as he bumps their foreheads together through mask and helmet.</p><p>“General,” Rex replies, pulling back and hiding his shit-eating grin only through his helmet. Prime would laugh but get onto him all the same. Just because they hide their faces doesn’t mean they can get loose with their expressions.</p><p>Bacara has his hand on Rex’s back as they go forward.</p><p>General Skywalker looks furious and confused. General Kenobi just looks confused.</p><p>“You know each other, then?” Kenobi asks.</p><p>“We ran into Vephiema and his Master on a few training missions,” Cody says smoothly, covering for Rex with a not-lie. “My squad did. And Rex was our usual tagalong, thanks to our mission control.”</p><p>“Sometimes I forget the Rishi Maze is in the Outer Rim and not Wild Space,” Kenobi muses. “I didn’t think any Jedi knew about you before I found Kamino, though.”</p><p>“General Windu did, though,” Rex says, boggling. Surely that came out. Windu had been a part of this con from just weeks after Rex had been viciously adopted. In case the war happened. “Mèpe did say it was need to know on the Council at the time, though. They were trying to dismantle everything before the war started.”</p><p>It’s throwing Windu under the bus, a bit. Throwing their truth under the bus.</p><p>Bacara pats his back, assuages his guilt. “Master Windu and the rest of the Nomads were the main ones working on it. There would have been too many accusations otherwise. The clones would have been, at best, killed. People brought there only by circumstance, or by threat, would have been imprisoned. The more people that knew, the more dangerous it would have been.”</p><p>Kenobi takes it, this not-all-of-the-truth, and comes out agreeable. Skywalker is still furious that his Captain has apparent loyalty to another Jedi. Still, Bacara’s storm will weather that down soon. Rex will soothe the hurts left, later.</p><p>For now, he’ll behave. They have a mission, a little piece of a larger con he doesn’t know about. The same one that Rex, Cody, and Bacara are running with the rest of Fulcrum.</p>
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